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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27015298">Falcon's Phantom</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookishBrigitta/pseuds/BookishBrigitta'>BookishBrigitta</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Home Is Where the Hyperdrive Is [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff, Halloween, HanLeia Challenge, HanLeia Secret Santa, Millenium Falcon (Star Wars), Prompt: I think your ship is haunted, Star Wars Creatures, Trick or Treat: Treat, Tumblr Prompt, hanleiatrickortreat2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:28:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,478</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27015298</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookishBrigitta/pseuds/BookishBrigitta</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>“The seat up there was warm!  Before I sat in it!”</em>
  <br/>
  <em>“I think your ship is haunted, then,” she said with a laugh.</em>
  <br/>
  <em>Han chewed the inside of his cheek.</em>
  <br/>
  <em>“Oh, come on, Han, I’m joking!  You don’t actually believe the Falcon is haunted, do you?” she asked.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Strange things have been happening on the Falcon lately.  But is it something sinister or something else?</p><p>Written for Han/Leia Trick-or-Treat @hanleiasecretsanta and October 2020 Han/Leia Challenge on Tumblr.  Prompts: “I think your ship is haunted” (trick or treat) and "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" (October challenge)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Leia Organa/Han Solo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Home Is Where the Hyperdrive Is [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2131788</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>HanLeia Challenge</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Falcon's Phantom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It started with some strange noises.  Something rattling the grates or scraping the walls.  Han didn’t think much of it.  The <em>Falcon</em> was an old ship, full of dodgy (“Customized!” Han insisted.  “The word is customized!”) additions, and it wasn’t unheard of for parts to rattle or groan or scratch.  Chewie might have been able to hear exactly where these sounds were coming from, but he was on Kashyyyk with his family, and Han didn’t want to bother him when nothing was really wrong.  He resolved to tinker a bit more diligently, check the fan on the alluvial dampeners, and bolt things down more carefully.</p><p>In all honesty, he was rather happy to have an excuse to tinker more, and Leia had even taken to helping him with it in the evenings, which was pretty much all his fantasies come true.  </p><p>“Han, what happened to that orange wire?” Leia called from the lounge.</p><p>“Look through the tools on the Sabacc table,” Han replied from under the control board in the cockpit.</p><p>“Well, it’s not there.”</p><p>“Leia, I swear I put it there--”</p><p>“And I swear it isn’t there!”</p><p>Han sighed and carefully extricated himself from the jumble of wires under the control board.  He went to the lounge to find Leia standing there with all the tools fanned out in front of her.  He looked through the tools on the table, but as Leia had insisted, there wasn’t any orange wire.  </p><p>“What the kriff?” he said, more to himself than anything.  “I <em>know</em> I put it here before bed last night.  I know it!  I was using it <em>for</em> the Sabacc table for Sith’s sake!”</p><p>“I’m sure it just got knocked over or stuck under something.”</p><p>“Didn’t you look around the floor before you called me over?”</p><p>“Of course!  But I might have missed something.  Come on, let’s take another look.”</p><p>But after a half hour of searching all the nooks and crannies of the lounge, the orange wire was still at large.  Han decided it was time to cut their losses and get back to work.</p><p>“But what about the things I need orange wire for?” Leia asked.</p><p>“Just use the red wire,” he said, fishing it out of his toolbox and handing it to her.</p><p>“It’s not the same composition as the orange wire.  It’s not even rated for this kind of use.”</p><p>“Eh.  It’ll work well enough.”</p><p>“Han!  This is safety we’re talking about!”<br/>
</p>
<hr/><p>Thankfully, the red wire seemed to work just fine, and a week later, they were gathered in the lounge again, this time with Luke joining them.  He had just returned from one of his missions to learn more about the Force, and both Han and Leia had insisted he have dinner with them on the Falcon that night so they could catch up.  Luke regaled them with the tales of the Jedi he heard from a native group on the outer rim, Leia filled him in on Alliance politics, and Han got him up to speed on the latest hangar news, including the strange happenings on the Falcon.</p><p>“I’m telling you, kid, it’s like I’m going as nutty as old Kenobi.  Being so busy with the Alliance, it’s practically melting my brain.  Either that or we got a ghost on the Falcon,” he huffed, putting his boots up on the table.</p><p>Then he yelped indignantly as Leia pushed his feet off.  Luke furrowed his brow in thought.</p><p>“Hmmm...you know, you scoff, but you might have a point with the ghost thing, Han,” he said.</p><p>“What, now you’re going to tell me ghosts are part of the Force?” he snorted.</p><p>“Well, yeah.”</p><p>“Anyone ever tell ya you should do movies, kid?  You could do the story and the acting.”</p><p>“I’m not making it up,” said Luke.  “Remember on Hoth, when I kept asking for Ben?  I saw his Force apparition in the cave.”</p><p>“Sure.  Luke, you know people hallucinate when they freeze to death, right?”</p><p>The three went a few rounds on Force signatures and the afterlife and whether or not Force ghosts could manipulate objects in the living world.  Luke ultimately used the Force to look for presences around the ship, but the only ones he found were Han and Leia and the vast array of native flora and fauna just outside the hangar.</p><p>Han went to sleep that night feeling slightly smug that Luke’s efforts hadn’t turned up anything; after all, this was <em>his</em> ship, and no one should know more about it than him.  But a few hours into the night, a loud crash woke him up.  Beside him, Leia slept on--she’d always been a heavy sleeper, once she could be convinced to part from her work long enough to sleep at all.  He strained his ears to hear better.</p><p>Underneath the tinny clang of objects bouncing on the grates before losing momentum was a soft, but rapid tapping sound that quickly died out.</p><p>Han Solo was not afraid of <em>ghosts</em>.  Ghosts didn’t even exist.  And besides, Han Solo was not afraid of <em>anything</em>.  But that didn’t mean he wasn’t <em>vigilant</em>.  You couldn’t be a smuggler or a spacer or work for an underground rebellion if you weren’t vigilant.  </p><p>“Leia!” he hissed.  “Wake up!”</p><p>“Ngmnhmm?”  She looked up at him blearily.  “What ‘sit?</p><p>He was being so <em>vigilant</em> that even his usual recognition of how utterly adorable Sleepy Leia was had to be sidelined.</p><p>“I heard some weird noises down the corridor.”</p><p>“Thermo-regulators?” she guessed, assuming the noise to have come from the very old, very loud system.</p><p>“No, that’s a clunk.  This was a crash-clang.  And then...it sounded like...footsteps?”</p><p>Leia swung her feet over the side of the bed and into her shoes.  She grabbed her blaster from the shelf by the bed (managing to look intimidating despite wearing only pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt) and looked at Han expectantly.</p><p>“Well?  Shouldn’t we check it out?”</p><p>“Right, yeah,” Han said quickly, jumping out of bed and getting his own shoes and blaster.</p><p>They set off in the direction the noise had come from, on high alert with blasters at the ready.  Han wondered if blasters had any effect on ghosts.  Blasters discharged energy, so hypothetically, they could disrupt the energy of a ghost, provided that the type and quantity of energy were sufficient.  Han very much hoped to never find out if he was right about that idea.  </p><p>He was so lost in these thoughts that he barely realized Leia had stopped in front of him.  They were looking into the galley, where all sorts of dining implements were scattered across the counter and floor.</p><p>“Well, there’s your noise,” said Leia, taking a step into the galley.</p><p>Han held her back.  “Yeah, but what caused all that stuff to fall?”</p><p>“Really?  Han, you just stacked the drying dishes too close to the edge.”  She brushed past him into the galley and started picking things off the floor.  “Then the ship settled or gravity caught up with one of the dishes.  The big crash must’ve been the stock pot and the clanging was just the smaller items hitting the floor.”</p><p>“But I heard footsteps--”</p><p>“It must have been one of these plastisteel cups bouncing around.  Or a branch hit the side of the ship, and you thought it was coming from the galley.”  She set the dishes back on the counter with a resolved <em>thump</em> and started back down the corridor.  “Now, I’m going back to bed.”</p><p>Han took one last look around the galley before following her.  He didn’t sleep much the rest of the night.

</p>
<hr/><p>Thanks to a poor night’s sleep, the following day was rather a slog for Han.  The recruits seemed more annoying, the tasks more tedious, and the day much longer than usual.  By the end of it, Han was itching for a quiet place to turn off his brain for a while.  After dinner, he climbed into the upper turret where he could just see the sky and the tops of the trees from beyond the hangar.  Very much looking forward to thinking of nothing at all, he flopped into the seat, only to find that it was...warm?</p><p>What the kriff?</p><p>He clamored back down the ladder and into the lounge, where Leia was filing reports on her datapad.</p><p>“Leia!”</p><p>“Yes?” she said, not looking up from her reports.</p><p>“Were you up in the gun turret recently?” he asked urgently.</p><p>“I was up there a few weeks ago when we did the wiring.”</p><p>“No, no, like <em>tonight</em>.  Were you up there <em>tonight</em>?”</p><p>She looked up at him.  “No.  Why do you ask?”</p><p>“The seat up there was <em>warm</em>!  Before I sat in it!”</p><p>“I think your ship is haunted, then,” she said with a laugh.</p><p>Han chewed the inside of his cheek.</p><p>“Oh, come on, Han, I’m joking!  You don’t actually believe the <em>Falcon</em> is haunted, do you?” she asked.</p><p>“I don’t know what to think anymore!  Things go missing, we hear strange noises, and now something is sitting in the gunner seat!”</p><p>“I’m sure there’s a rational explanation--”</p><p>“And I’ve tried to find one!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms to the sides.  “I asked if you’d been in the turret tonight, didn’t I?”</p><p>“When would I have been up there tonight?”</p><p>“I don’t know.  While I was doing the dishes or something.”</p><p>“Well, I wasn’t.  As a matter of fact, I was doing laundry, and maybe you should thank me, because I threw in some of your shirts since I noticed you were running out,” she said.</p><p>“That’s what I’m talking about!”  He ran his fingers through his hair compulsively.  “I shouldn’t be running out of shirts; those are going missing, too!”</p><p>Leia got up from the table and gently took his hands in hers.  “Han.  Think about it.  If nothing bad has happened by now, it’s probably not going to.  We’ll figure this out.”  She kissed his cheek and pulled him toward the Sabbac table.  “Why don’t you sit with me while I finish my reports?”</p><p>They had been sitting there for nearly a half an hour, Leia doing her reports and Han flipping idly through a spacer magazine, when Han suddenly sat bolt upright.</p><p>“Something just moved past my leg!”</p><p>Leia opened her mouth, then closed it, then finally spoke.  “Do you think any of this might just be, you know, being stressed?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I mean, the last year and a half has been...stressful.  Maybe you heard something weird or lost track of a few things and got suspicious and jumped to conclusions.  And then you’re even more stressed and looking for things to happen, and the next time something strange happens, it just reinforces what you already assumed.”</p><p>“I’m not crazy.”</p><p>“I never said you were.  I just mean you’ve had a stressful year, and trying to relax a little bit might break this...feedback loop.”</p><p>Han sighed, not totally sold on this idea.  But he relaxed back into his seat a bit, and when he put his feet up on the Sabbac table, Leia didn’t even correct him.

</p>
<hr/><p>In the spirit of relaxing, Han decided to devote the weekend to reading spacer magazines and tackling the pile of laundry he’d been putting off for a few weeks.  He whistled lazily as he moved a jumble of pants from the dryer to a basket and replaced them with a dozen of so white shirts.  He left the basket on the floor in the laundry alcove; he’d fold the pants when he folded the shirts and have it all done at once.  For now, he was going back to the lounge to read, maybe play a game of holochess if he could drag Leia away from her reports.</p><p>Several intriguing pages about the benefits and drawbacks of durosteel-coated fan belts and the better part of an hour later, the dryer chimed, signaling the end of its cycle.  He strode over to it and started pulling shirts out.  He had to move the basket slightly to get it beneath the dryer door--strange, he could have sworn he left it there when he took the pants out.  He tried to take Leia’s advice about not obsessing over things...that is, until he heard a strange noise from near his feet.</p><p>There was a rustling noise from inside the basket, followed by an indignant-sounding rumble.  Han dropped the shirt he was holding at once and backed away quickly.  He debated for a moment whether or not it was worth it to turn his back on the basket to call for backup.  He decided to risk it.</p><p>“LEIA!  C’mere, quick!  Something real weird is going on here!”</p><p>Leia appeared a moment later, running from the lounge with one hand on her blaster.</p><p>“What’s--”</p><p>“Shh!  We can’t spook it,” Han hissed.</p><p>“Han, what is going on?” she whispered.</p><p>“Something was moving in the laundry basket, and it made this growling noise.  We’ve got to figure out a way to trap--THERE IT IS!”</p><p>Han drew his blaster as a blackish blur dashed along the floor grates, hugging the walls.  He fired once, but the blur was too fast, and he only scorched the wall.  Cursing to himself, he started to aim again when he felt his arm being pulled off course.</p><p>“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Leia screamed. </p><p>“Defending my kriffing ship!” he said, looking around frantically for his target.</p><p>“Han, stop!  It’s just a pittin!”  </p><p>He relaxed his grip on his blaster and turned toward Leia.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“It’s a pittin!  That thing that ran out of the laundry basket is a pittin!”</p><p>“Kriff.”  He holstered his blaster and scrubbed a hand over his face. </p><p>“Come on, it went this way.”  </p><p>Leia dragged him down the corridor, listening for the scratch of little claws against the floor.  But somewhere between the ramp and the lounge, the noise stopped.  Leia frowned and dropped to her hands and knees.</p><p>Han followed her down, not totally sure what he was looking for.  After a few minutes of shuffling around, Leia exclaimed, “Aha!”</p><p>Han scrambled over to her.  She was pointing to a small spot of decking against the wall where the durosteel had broken off, leaving a gap about half the size of her fist.  Quickly, Han found the notch that released the floorboard and slid the board aside.</p><p>There in the smuggling compartment, curled up in a nest of work rags and Han’s shirts, was a little black pittin.  </p><p>Han moved as if to jump into the compartment, and the pittin retreated to the farthest corner.  Leia grabbed Han by the shirtsleeves and pulled him back.</p><p>“Wait!  Don’t move so suddenly.”</p><p>“Really, sweetheart--”</p><p>“Which one of us nearly got eaten by ewoks, hmm?”</p><p>Years later, the boys still got prickly at the reminder that Leia had utterly enchanted the little furballs while the boys were nearly cooked.</p><p>“Oh, alright!  What do you propose we do, then?”</p><p>“Get some food and see if we can get it to trust us.  You go; I’ll stay here and keep an eye on it.”</p><p>Han nodded and scuttled off to the galley.  Leia lowered herself onto her stomach so that just her head peeked into the smuggling compartment.  </p><p>“Hello, there,” she said softly.  “You’ve had an awfully busy day, haven’t you?”</p><p>The pittin looked up from its nest of cloth quizzically.  </p><p>“I bet Han scared you, didn’t he?  He didn’t really mean it.  You know,” she dropped her voice even lower, “<em>you</em> scared <em>him</em> pretty good, too.  He thought there was a ghost on the ship.”</p><p>She watched the pittin root around its nest for a minute or two until Han returned with a dish of cut-up fruit.</p><p>“Perfect,” she said, taking it from him.</p><p>She took a piece from the dish and whistled softly.  The pittin looked at her again, and she tossed the bit of fruit into the compartment.  It approached the fruit hesitantly, first sniffing it, then prodding it with its paws, and then finally slurping it up.</p><p>“Did you like that?” she said as she tossed another piece.</p><p>This time the pittin ate it much more quickly, and when it was done, it looked up at Leia.  She threw it a third piece before deciding to up the ante.  This time, rather than throwing the fruit, she slowly lowered one hand into the compartment.  The pittin eyed her hand warily, sniffing again before ambling forward and taking the fruit.  </p><p>“That’s it, I’m not going to hurt you.”</p><p>Once it had consumed the treat, it lingered near her hand, licking her fingers and giving her an appraising sniff.  Gently, ever-so-gently, she moved her fingers to caress the little stowaway, and it leaned into her touch readily.  After a minute or so, Leia withdrew her hand and took off her boots and blaster.  She scooted to the edge of the compartment, first dangling her legs, then slowly easing herself down, grabbing the dish of fruit on the way.  The pittin backed up into its nest; she made little shushing sounds and kept talking in that gentle, even tone.  </p><p>“I know, that was a bit of a surprise, having a big person come down here.  But I’ll let you in on a little secret:  I’m not very big, either.”</p><p>Han snorted at this, but Leia ignored him.  Instead, she sat with her knees to the side and extended one hand with a piece of fruit.  The pittin approached her very cautiously, first sniffing the length of her legs and then nuzzling her hand for the fruit.  </p><p>“Good...boy,” she said, finally able to get a close enough look to determine the sex.</p><p>Leia took the other hand out of her lap to pet its head, but before she could, the pittin ran back to its nest.  It returned a moment later with a ball of something orange, which it deposited in front of her. </p><p>“So that’s where all my orange wire went,” Han remarked.</p><p>The pittin looked at Leia expectantly, and after seeing that she didn’t intend to do anything with the wire, it nudged the wire toward her with his nose.  She nudged it back, and this time the pittin swiped at it with its paws and chased it across the compartment.  Han would never admit it, but the more he watched the pittin play with the wire, the less angry he was at it for stealing the wire in the first place.  </p><p>After a little while, the pittin tired of playing and went back to Leia.  It jumped into her lap, nuzzling for food, which she gave with a smile.  When the food ran out, she patted the pittin’s head and stroked down its back.  It relaxed into her arms, and she carefully stood up and climbed out of the compartment.</p><p>“Well now what do we do?” Han asked.  “Release it outside and hope it doesn’t come back?”</p><p>“Actually,” Leia said slowly, “I was thinking we should keep him.”</p><p>“What!”</p><p>“Look at him!  He’s just a baby, and he trusts us already!”</p><p>“<em>Leia</em>.”</p><p>“<em>Han</em>.  It’s autumn; in a few weeks, it’ll be too cold for him to stay outside.  I’m sure with a little training and a few things of his own, he’d stop stealing things.  And I think it would do you good to have some companionship.”</p><p>“I’ve got Chewie!  He’s even got fur!”  Han paused and ran a hand through his hair.  “Look, don’t we have enough to worry about without adding a pet to the mix?”</p><p>“It’s not like he’ll need much, and besides, pets are proven to have a positive emotional effect. Think about it, Han.  Here.”  </p><p>Before Han could protest, she shifted the pittin from her arms to his.  The pittin snuggled against his chest and tucked its tail in between his shirt and vest.  Han put a hand on its back to keep it from squirming too much, and at his touch, the pittin relaxed into his arms, purring contentedly.  Leia watched with thinly-veiled excitement.</p><p>Han had to admit this felt kind of nice.  The pittin was soft and warm, and it was refreshing to see something so innocent and content.  He started to stroke its fur subconsciously, and its breathing became deep and even.  </p><p>“Oh, alright!” he said as loud as he dared without disturbing the pittin.  “We can keep it.”</p><p>Leia grinned.  “I knew you’d love it once you held it, you old softie.”</p><p>“Watch it, sweetheart, I’ve got an image to maintain,” he said, not meaning it at all.</p><p>Leia just rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek.</p><p>“Well, if we’re keeping it, it’s got to have a name.  I’m assuming you’ve already thought of one…?” </p><p>She demurred for a moment, not quite willing to admit he had her pegged.  She scratched the pittin behind the ears before smiling and saying,</p><p>“Phantom.”</p>
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